The Screamer

[Dunderhero]

The Screamer was a Special Infected in the early stages of game development, preceding the Witch and the Boomer's vomit attack. The idea of the Screamer was for it to lurk, much like the Witch, in different areas, paying no attention to its surroundings until coming in contact with a Survivor. The Screamer did not have any actual attacks.[1] At this point, it would sound a warning, like the Witch. If agitated enough, it would not attack, as it is bound in a straitjacket, but run off to hide. Once hidden, it would let out a scream, attracting a horde, like the Boomer's bile. It was therefore important to kill the Screamer as quickly as possible while it tried to run off.

As stated in the Developer Commentary, when the Screamer was still in use, all the Boomer did was explode when killed, splash damaging nearby Survivors. The Screamer was then cut and is not featured in the game because it was deemed too difficult for Survivors to spot and track him down amongst Common Infected. The Boomer was then given its bile attack and new bile splash death.  

[Garret Erikson]

Yeah...it's talked about in the directors commentary of L4D...

Um, not to be mean....but.....

So?  

[1nsane0takuChan]

That sounds kinda cool. They should've kept him. c: I would've killed him  

[Vincent_Vampire00]

They should've kept him for if you play hard mode and stuff >:3 That would be BEAST!  

[cassisRAD]

I think they probably would have kept him if people weren't so whiny.

I heard lots of people complained 'The Screamer' was too hard to see in a horde and thus harder to stop.

I say, 'Get over it'